MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) _ First Merchants Corp. (FRME) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $45.1 million.

The Muncie, Indiana-based bank said it had earnings of 83 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 67 cents per share.

The bank posted revenue of $140.7 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $129.8 million, which also beat Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $148.6 million, or $2.74 per share. Revenue was reported as $492.1 million.

First Merchants shares have risen 1.5% since the beginning of the year. The stock has fallen almost 5% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FRME at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FRME

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